Post-AGDQ sadness

AGDQ 2016 was a blast just like every year. There is no contest, AGDQ is by far the best week of my year, and the 3 AGDQs I've been to have been the 3 best weeks of my entire life. Everything was amazing, I had so much fun, I was so happy to meet new friends and especially see old ones. I'll try to break down the main things I did and then I will attempt to say something to/about all the people I've spent time with this week.


Super Mario Maker

Obviously this was a big one. Coming in at AGDQ I was anxious because I had been burnt out on the game for months and my practice level was not where I wanted it to be. I was rusty, I was not confident, and I expected to be a liability for my team and that people would quickly forget I took part in the race.

On Monday, we made teams and then I proceeded to have practice sessions with my team on Monday and Tuesday nights. Much to my surprise, it turned out that I was contributing more to the team than what I had first expected to. I found that we had a good balance between the players, and it never felt like anyone was doing more work than the others. TMR had a great idea with the controller swapping, and we practiced communication by calling out stuff that we saw on screen and communicating tips to the other players.

I think the teams were pretty fair but the other team went a lot more casually into this, with no practice beforehand. I was surprised to see how much it showed. Combined with a few unlucky moments on their end and a few clutch ones on ours, the race ended up lopsided and it killed a lot of the hype that could have been. People still enjoyed the race a lot, and I am really hoping it can make a comeback next year and I can be in it.


TAS Block

I feel super lucky to have been able to be a part of TAS block this year. It came as a surprise when Dwango contacted me to be a human runner for the race, and I was then able to choose someone else to be the other human runner. EmoArbiter is a good friend of mine and he had no run at the marathon, so I figured he'd be a good pick. He ended up shining as he beat Tompa's TAS, which is really impressive.

The game was really hard, and they were making a lot of last-minute changes. The biggest one was the horde spawn timer that was changed from 180 frames to 100. This meant that enemies spawned almost twice as fast as what we had practiced for, and that was changed two days before the run. I ended up struggling a lot after the change. My biggest issue was with the NES controller and moving diagonally. Diagonals were crucial in that game, and I was not able to consistently hold/switch diagonals, which ended up costing me a lot.

I don't really care about not being able to finish the race, I'm just glad one of us did. It was to be expected that one of us would not make it, since the game was so hard and unforgiving. We were manipulating RNG for the entirety of the run - one screw up with the kill order could mean run over. I was almost able to clutch it with 1 hit left for most of the horde, but unfortunately I died in-between beating the horde (20 kills) and picking up the chest's contents.


DK64 races

We did a lot of bingos this week with the DK crew. I performed poorly but playing live with other runners was a lot of fun. I'm glad team bingo turns out to be so fun and I'm always looking forward to playing more in the future.

I'm kind of sad that people didn't really seem to be interested in trying wacky races that are only possible in person, such as 2-player 1 controller, blindfolded, relays and such. I did play a bit of 2-player 1 controller with hitokage and I enjoyed that, but I believe we were the only one who did this in all of the week.


Piano

I'm super glad I brought my keyboard to AGDQ. It was a bit of a hassle to transport, and I'm thankful to everyone who helped me transport it and set it up. I am still bummed out that Jackson couldn't make it to AGDQ, because he is the best jamming partner of all time. I still had a very good session with TMR on the flute. I hope people filmed it and will post videos.

I'll be working more and more on expanding my knowledge of video game music and my ability to play songs from as many games as possible, including games or entire series I have never, or almost never played in my life (metroid, megaman, final fantasy, etc.)


Closing general comments

I love AGDQ. Most of the fun happens outside of the stream room. I love speedrunners. I wish we could see each other more often. I wish it was easy to just gather up somewhere and hangout for a few days, so we could do it every other month. I miss everyone, I miss AGDQ, it's the best time of my life and it makes the rest feel very empty. This year was the first time that after everything had been set and done and I was alone in my bed, I cried because I missed AGDQ too much. You guys all mean so much to me and the speedrunning world being together for one week is a dream come true.


Personal comments

I recommend that if you've spent time with me at AGDQ, Ctrl+F your name to find it. Or just read everything!

Znernicus: you're probably my oldest DK64 friend, and I was really happy to learn that we'd be rooming together again this year. I highly respect your dedication and your work ethic when it comes to speedrunning, and I wish I were only half as good and consistent as you are. It's always a pleasure hanging out with you and if you ever pay a visit to Canada, make sure to stop by here and you'll be treated as a king!

Cinthia/notevenashamed: it was really nice meeting you. I wish you hadn't gotten sick and spent a couple days in bed. You and znern make a great couple and I hope you guys stay together through time and distance. I'm impressed by your pixel art, too. I hope I'll get to see you in my chat from time to time!

EmoArbiter: you're a great friend and I'm glad you accepted the TASBot race. It was great working out the route together (though you ended up doing most of the legwork while I was busy with my meme map that ended up being useless). I thought I had a solid edge on you until the newest build and NES controllers turned me into an inconsistent piece of trash and you into some kind of god perfect runner. I still can't believe you were that consistent with a route this hard. I'm glad you got the spotlight and I wouldn't redo it any different. You're also a great person to talk real stuff with, and I very much appreciate that.

Kiwikiller67: I feel like we didn't spend as much time together as we should have. I know some stuff happened to you during the week and that you weren't always in the greatest of moods because of it, but you were still pulling through and hanging out with us even if you weren't always feeling like it, which shows great character. I know it's a meme, but I really think you're under-recognized as a player. We tease you a lot but we really enjoy having you around.

Tiffanyfruit/Tiffanyjane/TJ: Canadian m8, I think I should finally admit that you and Znernicus are infinitely better at bingo than I am. I was also surprised to see that you seemed pretty good at DKR, although I don't know much about that game other than its music. We didn't really get to know more of each other on a personal level, which is a shame.

STDs/DigitalVortex98: I'll be honest, I've never liked your name STDs_catch_them_all. I thought it was a bit too much of a meme name, and because of that I kind of had a negative first impression. But as soon as I met you, I thought "This guy is STDs? wow" and we just got along really well. I'm sorry for your loss, it's really awful to abruptly end AGDQ on something like that. I am happy to have met you and I'm super glad that the person behind the name was so much better than I expected.

kaptainkohl: I didn't know you much before AGDQ, but you were a great guy to hangout with and throw some memes around. You're one of the guys I didn't know were going, I wasn't expecting to meet and I wasn't expecting to get to know and like. It's been a pleasant surprise and I'll be happy to count you in my team for the future bingos.

hitokage220: We ended up spending more time together this week than I would have expected and I got to know you better as a person. Memeing is fun but what I really enjoy doing with you is the more serious talking. The moment I enjoyed the most with you was our dinner with Znernicus and Cinthia. It was a great break from the big crowds and the loud rooms, which you and I both dislike. I'm really glad you decided to come and that you enjoyed your week. I hope AGDQ solidified our friendship and that it will extend beyond memes.

2dos: You know how I had serious doubts about you liking me at all for quite some time, but it's behind me now. I'm sorry for thinking you had some grudge against me or something. Although you are now a professional Splatoon competitive player, you still took some of your precious time to play some old-ass monkey game with memers like me. I hope we play more team bingos together, as our playstyles seem to complement each other and make good synergy for the team. Also, yes, you'll still be Lanky this year.

Cfox7: Always hard to get a hold of as usual. I hope you find a way to truly get back with DK64, as the community is growing bigger and better than ever. I'm glad you liked team bingo and I hope we get to see you participate more regularly in those.

TonesBalones: THE Tones "TonesBalones" Balones, the Splatoon World Record Holder? You're a great, fun guy. I truly appreciate you taking the time to come in my chat when I was "relearning" Splatoon. It motivates me to really get back into it and at the very least get sub-hour. Had a lot of fun talking with you and we seemed to always meet at least once a day. I'm glad your run went as well as it did, you truly deserve it. Hope your stream blows up and you become the next Siglemic of Splatoon.

Dusty: It was great to see you again this year. I still feel bad for never replying to your tweet for dinner. I wish I got around to doing more stuff with you, but I always seemed to see you when I was busy with something else.

Dram55: You're such a nice guy and a good SMW player, it's insane. I must admit I was intimidated when I first got a hold of the gamepad on our first practice, especially since with our setup, you were sitting next to me when I was playing, waiting for me to die to take over, but you were so friendly, open and encouraging that I immediately felt confident and at ease. Also, I still can't get over how much you beasted the last bit of the walljump level.

TMR/TheMexicanRunner: Practice and racing with you was a lot of fun. You and I both love video game music and I wish we got to play together more than just once. That jam session was sweet though, we got some really good songs going. I wish you the best with NESMania and I hope to play Mario Maker with you next year!

Linkdeadx2: It was great having you on the SMM team as well. You are an impressive blind player with an incredible instinct for dev bullshit. I didn't get to interact with you outside of the context of the SMM race, but we definitely had an awesome team atmosphere.

Trihex: These trashtalk encounters were pretty funny. I'm pretty bad at trashtalking in English so you were clearly winning them. I did get a point with the early practice though! It's a shame the race turned out not to be really close, I heard you weren't really happy with your performance. I hope you get a chance at a rematch to show you're actually a god, and I can't wait for you to destroy me at trashtalking again!

Carlsagan42: I love your contagious smile and your enthusiasm. Your levels were so well-crafted, and they were fine-tuned to make you feel like you were escaping certain death on every other frame, they were the ones that kept me on the edge of my seat the most. I cannot thank you enough for letting me on the AGDQ Mario Maker crew, because that was an experience that blew away my wildest expectations.

SethBling: I never thanked you for tweeting out the Minecraft run from 2014 and gathering the largest AGDQ audience up to that point. We ended up both on SMM and TASBlock, which is an interesting coincidence. It was nice meeting you and I hope we collaborate again in the future!

Wodahs-Reklaw: I almost didn't see any eliters this year, but I did get to talk a little bit with you. No mustache looks both so good and so wrong at the same time it's very unsettling. I know I might be a little bit too Nesquik and irrel for your taste, but you're a cool guy to talk to.

Qweczol: Shame that I only really got to talk to you while you were feeling sick. It's always good to see you, as well as all the eliters. If there ever is an elite meet within a 5-hour radius of Montreal I'd happily hop in and say m8.

Runnerguy2489: Thanks again for paying me pizza on the last night I was there, even though getting pizza at all was a mistake on my end. I wish I got a rematch to race you to the hotel. I promise I might maybe sub to you. You and I avoid subscribing on Twitch for the same reasons.

Moltov: Molly, one of my oldest Twitch friends, I'm always so happy to see you. I watched some of your double blindfolded in-between other stuff. I wish we got to hangout more, I love you Molly, and let's play Starbound again.

Gregortixlkyns: Truth be told, every time I hugged you this week was incredibly comforting. You have this aura around you that just soothes me and makes me feel happy and cozy. You're the cutest, too. Wish I played Coup. I love you too.

Brittany & Ryan: Britt, it was a pleasant surprise to learn that you were coming to this AGDQ. I am glad to see that you recovered nicely from your car accident. I wish we get to meet again. Ryan was really cool too, you guys are sweet together.

Figure8: I had no idea who you were prior to AGDQ, but you're really cool and friendly. Meeting you was a pleasant surprise!

DwangoAC: Thank you so much for allowing me to be part of the TAS block this year! It is truly an honor to take part in what is considered now as a staple of GDQs. I felt like an outsider in this block of amazing people.

Weatherton: Insane job on the MK64 TAS! I've been checking out your stream over the last year and I know for a fact that you've worked incredibly hard on this. I was kind of scared I wouldn't get to see you at all, but I'm happy we had a little time to chat. I'm still looking forward for the release of Turok 2 to start speedrunning it again. Last I checked, the steam URL I found still linked to nothing...

Oeji: Oeji m8, I loved playing some SMB2 sexy version for you. I'll make sure to join the Minecraft memes.

Iambutpixels: m8888888 this is one of my biggest disappointments of AGDQ. We barely saw each other, barely talked, never hung out. I'm sorry things turned out like that, you're one of the realest people I've met online. I also wanted to show you my putt-putt skills.

Spaciercrayon: I wish we got around to watching hockey and playing Rocket League, but so much to do, so many people to meet, it ended up not working out. I'm sorry, I tried my best. I hope I get to be a better m8 next year.

iamradiox: Excellent driver who really bailed me out this time as I was too much of a wreck to drive on the way back. I'll carry your sexy ass for another round in 2017, promise.

Kylf/Fullgrowngaming: kylf m888, like pixels I wish I could have seen you more. It was a complete surprise that we ended up meeting with the Minecraft memes, and you turned out to be a great friend to me in late 2015. I really wish our meeting could have lived up to that and that we could have spent more time m8ing at AGDQ. Too much stuff to do, too many people to meet. I'm sorry m8.

If your name isn't there and you think it should be, yell at me. I tried to remember a lot of people, but I know I skipped over some and I must have forgotten important people.


Final words: To everyone who was at AGDQ, you guys make my hobby worth doing. The friendships may be virtual, but the feelings are definitely very real.